A.—No. 3

convey away the soil in the stopped-up road, but that the fee simple of the soil in the new road remains in the former owner. It should he considered whether the fee simple in the land of the new road ought not to be secured as well as the right of way over such land. I have, &c, His Honor the Superintendent, Auckland. E. W. Stafford. JSo. 3. His HONOR F. WHITAKER to the HON. E. W. STAFFORD. Sir, — Superintendent's Office, Auckland, 6th December, 1865. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of date 29th November ult., informing me that you cannot advise His Excellency the Governor to assent to the " City Board Loun Act, No. 2, 1865;* 1 and the " Wairoa Road Act, 1865." I have, Ac, The Honorable the Colonial Secretary, Hugh Carleton, Wellington. For the Superintendent. No. 4. His HONOR F. WHITAKER to the HOY E. W. STAFFORD. Sir, — Superintendent's Office, Auckland, February 3rd, 1866. At the request of the Provincial Secretary, 1 have the honor to forward a Memorandum which he has written in reference to two Acts passed by the Provincial Council, and assented to by my predecessor, Mr Graham. The question as to whether Acts can be assented to by the Superintendent after the prorogation of the Council is one of some importance, and it may be useful if it should again hove to be considered, that the reasons for an opposite opinion to that now held by the Attorney-General should be before him. The disallowance of the " City Loan Act, No. 2, i860," referred to in me Provincial Secretary's Memorandum raises a ruestion of immediate practical importance, as several other Acts of a similar character have been passed, and others will be required. The Auckland Loan Act, 186: i, authorises the Superintendent to raise the sum of £500,000, and this has been done. The Bth section of the Act prescribes the purposes lor which the money may be expehded, and declares that " No money raised under the provisions of the Act shall be paid or expended " without authority of an Act of the Superintendent and Provincial Council." The City Bonn! Loan Act was a special Act passed in pursuance or' this provision to appropriate a portion of the Loan already raised, and not for the purpose of raising one. I therefore respectfully submit that it is no way open to the objections made to it us a Loan Act. I have, &c, Fred. Whitaker, Superintendent: Enclosure in Xo. 4. MEMORANDUM BY MR. CAKLETON. In reference to the Colonial Secretary's letter, No. 2641, announcing the disallowance of the City Loan Act, No. 2, 18(15, and the Wairoa Road Act, 1865, passed before the advent of die present Superintendent to office, I desire to observe that none of the objections taken by the Attorney-General to the City Loan Act are in my opinion necessarily fatal to that Act. The right of the Governor to exercise his own discretion in the matter of disallowance is of course unquestioned. I therefore restrict the question to this point, namely, whether the Governor was compelled, by reason of illegality, or non-compliance with instructions, to disallow. The Colonial Secretary writes as follows : "The Act in question was assented to after the prorogation of the.Conncil. It is the practice (apparently founded on legal obligation) for the Crown to assent " to Bills during the sitting of Parliament, a practice also adopted in the General Assembly, and looking " at the -provisions contained in the Constitution Act, I am advised that the Superintendents ouo-ht to "declare their assent or otherwise before the prorogation of the Provincial Council.'' [ -am unable to discover any "legal obligation," nor can I perceive the force of any parallel drawn between the functions of a Superintendent, an officer elected by the people, and those of the Crown. It is true that laws are made by the General Assembly in Parliament assembled, from which it appears to follow that the Governor's assent must be given during session ; but provincial laws are made by the Superintendent of the Province with the advice and consent of the Provincial Council thereof. That advice and consent once obtained, no limitation is expressed in regard to time. The wording of the 18th section of the Constitution Act is clear and explicit. It must ba admitted that other sections of that Act are more loosely worded; for instance, the 19th section, by which it is enacted that it shall not " be lawful for the Superintendent and the Provincial

Memorandum by Mr. Carleton, 26Qi January, 1866.

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FURTHER PAPEES RELATIVE TO THE